EVERETT — Prosecutors on Monday resurrected a rape charge against a teenager accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in a hallway at Mountlake Terrace High School last year.
Cole Krause, 18, also was charged Monday with raping a different girl. That girl, 16, reported being assaulted at Krause’s Mountlake Terrace home last fall.
At the time, Krause was facing prosecution for allegedly sexually assaulting the 15-year-old after school Jan. 7, 2016. He was a senior at the time and she was a freshman. Krause, then 17, was charged in juvenile court with third-degree rape.
Prosecutors dropped that case earlier this year, saying the 15-year-old no longer wanted to participate.
She changed her mind after Krause’s arrest last month for investigation of attacking the other girl, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Bob Langbehn wrote in court papers.
The second allegation was brought to the attention of Mountlake Terrace police in January.
That girl did not immediately file a report. She told investigators she was reluctant to step forward because she saw how the other girl was bullied for accusing Krause of rape, Langbehn wrote. Krause was a popular athlete at the school. He was expelled immediately after his arrest in January 2016, although the district agreed to let him finish his studies online.
The 16-year-old also said she was reluctant because she was afraid her ex-boyfriend, with whom she is still close, would find out that she and Krause had consensual sex in the past, Langbehn wrote.
Detectives interviewed Krause before his March 28 arrest. He denied raping the 16-year-old. Krause told police he and girl had consensual sex and she never said, “No.” He allegedly said the girl later texted him, accusing him of rape. He said he didn’t tell anyone about the girl’s claims because they were untrue and he hoped the whole thing would go away, Langbehn wrote.
Krause blamed the accusations on the girl “hitting her head and seizing while they all were hiking,” Mountlake Terrace detective Heidi Froisland wrote in an affidavit.
The girl reported that Krause offered her a ride home back in the fall. He allegedly tried to kiss her while they were in his car but she rebuffed him. She told police she didn’t take his advances seriously and believed Krause thought he was being “cute,” court papers said.
They stopped at his house, where she waited for him while he spoke with his mother. She told police the assault happened after Krause’s mother left. The girl said Krause became aggressive, pressing himself against her and trying to take off her clothes. She reported telling Krause repeatedly that she didn’t want to have sex with him.
The girl claimed Krause persisted, took of her clothes and assaulted her. The girl said when it was over, Krause said, “We should have sex more,” Froisland wrote.
The 15-year-old reported Krause saying something similar to her in January 2016.
She told detectives Krause began paying attention to her a couple of weeks earlier. Her parents were against her seeing an older boy. She made excuses for not being able to hang out with Krause. She was worried how it would look if she told the boy that her parents didn’t want her to associate with him, court papers said. The girl said she was flattered by Krause’s attention.
The girl told police the assault happened after school. She’d gone to her locker to grab her English book. Her mother was going to pick her up soon.
Krause followed her to the locker, she said. They started kissing. She told police the kissing was consensual, and she was still willing when he grabbed her wrist and guided her out of sight of the main hallway, according to court papers. They eventually ended up in an alcove.
She told police Krause’s actions became more aggressive, and she repeatedly told him to stop and pushed his hands away, court papers said. The girl alleged that he pushed her to the ground and sexually assaulted her despite her efforts to kick him. She told police the boy said, “You know you want it.”
Krause allegedly had warned the girl not to go to police. He also suggested that they “do this again sometime,” court papers said.
Investigators reported finding signs at the school of a violent attack.
The 16-year-old told detectives that she heard from “approximately six or seven other girls who had similar experiences with the defendant but who are not, at this time, willing to come forward but expressed thanks that someone was willing to,” Langbehn wrote.
Krause is out of custody, after posting bail. He is expected to answer to the third-degree rape charges next month.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
